HAC Girls Cross Country Captures Finger Lakes Championship
Posted on November 13th, 2019 by acsrochester
October 28, 2019
Wayne, N.Y. – In one of the most tightly contested Wayne-Finger Lakes Championship races in recent history, the varsity girls cross country team took 1st place overall by just a single point in the varsity ‘A’ race at Wayne High School on Saturday morning. The Wolves (115 team points) narrowly took 1st place overall as the top-4 teams were separated by just 4 points.
HAC was able to beat out Waterlo0 (2nd place – 116 team points), Wayne (3rd place – 117 team points) and Red Creek (4th – 118 team points) as they were led by sophomore Mary Cotter who took 3rd place overall out of 99 runners in a time of 20:26.
Senior Liza Cotter was HAC’s next fastest runner earning an 11th overall finish in 21:28. She was followed by 8th grader Evelyn Kacprzynski who ran a career-best 5k time of 22:25 while placing 27th overall. Tea Malone-Bonacci also ran a personal-best as she finished in 29th place in 22:30. She was followed by Emmy Kaza (24:01) who placed 51st and Olivia Woodring (24:30) who finished 53rd overall. Rounding out HAC’s top-7 runners was junior Zoe Crego who placed 58th overall in 24:42 to help secure the Wolves Finger Lakes League meet championship.
The race featured 14 different schools from the Wayne-Finger Lakes Area. The Wolves depth and team were also tested as they were missing one of their top runners in senior Roxy Reisch due to illness.
“HAC’s girls gutted out a thrilling victory in which a mere 4 points separated the top 4 teams,” said head coach Dan Deckman. “I have never seen anything quite like it in cross country. Every single point and every single runner truly played a decisive role in the win. It was a full team accomplishment that I will never forget.”
Meanwhile, the HAC varsity boys cross country runners also turned out a terrific performance as junior Ryan Mogauro paced the Wolves in the varsity ‘A’ race with a 60th overall finish in 19:48.
He was followed Zach Ellis who’s time of 20:23 placed him in 76th overall. Finishing right behind Ellis was Ming DeMers in 77th place (20:26) and Greg Castellano in 78th place (20:38). Ethan Hearne set a new personal-best 5k time in 21:09 en route to a 94th place finish, while Julian Quesada (22:12) and James Hawkins (24:20) rounded out HAC’s top-7 finishers by placing 111th and 129th respectively.
The boys race featured 133 racers from 19 different school districts.
HAC will race next at the Section V Championship race at Midlakes High School this upcoming Saturday, November 2nd. The girls will race in the Class C race that begins at 1:00 PM and the boys will race in the Class D race that begins at 2:30 PM.
Complete Wayne-Finger Lakes League Championship results can be found here.
HAC Varsity Volleyball Team Wins Section V Class D2 Championship
Posted on November 13th, 2019 by acsrochester
November 11, 2019
Fairport, N.Y. – HAC’s varsity volleyball team are Section V Class D2 Champions after winning 3-0 over the no. 2 seeded Lyons Lions at Fairport High School on Friday evening. The Wolves won 25-18, 25-12 and 25-14 to remain unbeaten at 21-0 on the season and earn their 1st sectional championship since 2013. It was also HAC’s 5th sectional championship title in program history.
NASA Langley Research Center Director Encourages Students to Do Things THEIR Way
Posted on October 16th, 2019 by Amelia FitzsimmonsDirector of the NASA Langley Research Center, Clayton Turner, returned to campus to discuss the important role our 6th grade students play in on-going scientific studies and research. As a GLOBE school, AC students serve as citizen scientists reporting daily cloud observations to help researchers improve the interpretation of satellite readings, provide ground-based data on contrails, and help better calculate the rate of heat exchange in the atmosphere.
Mr. Turner encouraged students to follow their passions, ask questions, and do research THEIR way. “There are many ways to learn and many pathways to success. These different approaches are often how we make new discoveries. Find what YOU are passionate about and the way that fits YOU!”
AC Faculty Member Beth Guzzetta Recipient of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching
Posted on October 16th, 2019 by Amelia Fitzsimmons
AC faculty member, Beth Guzzetta, was presented with the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST) in October 2019. The PAEMST Award is the highest award given by the U.S. Government to K-12 teachers. Beth was one of four teachers selected from New York State to receive this honor. Nominations and awards were facilitated by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, the National Science Foundation, and a panel of distinguished mathematicians, scientists, and educators at the state and national levels.
“It is an extreme honor to receive the prestigious Presidential Award. I am grateful to those who have inspired me to pursue my passion for bringing creativity to the classroom. Receiving this award refuels my drive to instill the joy of learning within my students so they realize the impact they have on the local and global community, and continue their pursuit of knowledge. With this award comes the responsibility to share my experience with other educators so that they, too, may be inspired.”
Beth Guzzetta has been an educator for over 25 years, spending the last 19 years teaching at Allendale Columbia School. She currently teaches seventh-grade Life Science and sixth and eighth-grade mathematics. She also taught at DeSales High School in Geneva, NY and schools in Massachusetts and Florida.
Beth’s love for science helps her develop innovative projects on campus. She runs a maple sugaring project, a honeybee apiary, and a trout project. After school and in the summer, she runs science camps to excite and engage younger scientists.
Global connections and scientific research are areas that she enjoys sharing with her students through domestic and international trips. These experiences have brought her and her students to Madagascar for biodiversity and archaeology research, the Florida Keys for marine biology research, and Camp Pathfinder in Canada and the Adirondack Mountains for outdoor education.
Beth’s leadership among educators has led her to conduct annual presentations at the National Science Teachers Association National Conference since 2012 and presentations at the Science Teachers Association of NY. She is also a National Geographic Certified Educator.
Beth has a B.A. in mathematics from St. John Fisher College and a M.Ed. from Curry College. She is certified in secondary mathematics and elementary education.
AC Alum Recognized as 2018 CNN Hero
Posted on November 9th, 2018 by cnickelsVeterans Day celebrates our soldiers and marines who served this country or, in some cases, made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. But what about all those people who help our troops? The people who live in the country that is being torn apart by war. The people who risk their lives to help our soldiers communicate, navigate, and survive. What about them?
Matt Zeller, an AC Class of 2000 alum, left our campus with ideas of being a lawyer or a politician and went on to earn degrees from Hamilton College and Syracuse University before joining the U.S. Army.
In 2008 his life, and his future, changed forever. (more…)
Posted in: AC in the News, Alumni News, Authentic Learning, Entrepreneurship, Global Engagement, Highlights
Seventh Graders Build Independence, Resilience, and Community at Camp Pathfinder
Posted on October 5th, 2018 by Allendale Columbia Schoolby Aaron Shepard, Rachael Sanguinetti, and Seth Hopkins
Seventh graders went to Camp Pathfinder for five days. Click to view more photos.
Allendale Columbia’s seventh grade recently spent a week hiking, biking, and canoeing in the Canadian wilderness at Camp Pathfinder, a camp for boys owned and operated by AC alumnus Mike Sladden ’76. It’s located on Pathfinder Island on Source Lake in Ontario’s Algonquin Provincial Park. Students spent five days working together and learning a variety of outdoor skills, including fire building and shelter construction. They also explored the history of painter Tom Thomson, a prolific 20th-century Canadian artists who died in the park under mysterious circumstances and was one of the first voices to articulate a Canadian national identity. (more…)
Posted in: AC in the News, Authentic Learning, Highlights, Middle School, Seventh Grade
Creativity Abounds at Evening of the Arts
Posted on March 27th, 2018 by Allendale Columbia SchoolCreativity knows no bounds, as Allendale Columbia School students demonstrated at the biennial Evening of the Arts event on Friday, March 23rd. The exhibition featured over a hundred works of art from students in grades N – 12 displayed throughout the school. This year’s theme was “Art Around the World”.
Honors and Portfolio Seminar Art students plied their craft in the Bruce B. Bates Design and Innovation Lab, previewing their work for the upcoming spring thesis exhibition in April. Senior Madison DeCory appreciated the opportunity to help stimulate artistic creativity in younger students, as she mentioned in an interview with News 8 Rochester: “What we want to do tonight is showcase what we’ve been doing, showcase our talents, and get other students interested in the artwork that we’re doing.”
“It’s a variety of work all the way from photography — we have a black and white darkroom which is incredible for our students to have that experience — to printmaking, painting, drawing, design, digital work, and hands on work,” said Amy Oliveri, AC art teacher and Director of the AC Center for Entrepreneurship. A group of 5th graders even demonstrated their “crankie” from the Lower School musical, “I’m Not Sleepy…Yet!”.
Students working in the Global Engagement Diploma program also participated in a bit of social entrepreneurism, selling handmade baskets from a women’s collective and shade-grown coffee to benefit the program’s partners in El Sauce, Nicaragua.
News 8 Rochester summarized the event on their evening news show.
Posted in: AC in the News, Alumni News, Centers for Impact, Eighth Grade, Eleventh Grade, Entrepreneurship, Fifth Grade, First Grade, Fourth Grade, Global Engagement, Highlights, Invent, Kindergarten, Lower School, Middle School, Ninth Grade, Nursery, Partnerships, Pre-Primary School, PreKindergarten, Second Grade, Seventh Grade, Sixth Grade, Tenth Grade, Third Grade, Twelfth Grade, Upper School
AC Aces Robotics Team Featured as 13WHAM Bright Spot
Posted on January 24th, 2018 by Allendale Columbia School
Bright Spot: AC Aces
Channel 13 WHAM featured the AC Aces robotics team on their Bright Spot on January 23rd. The Aces placed second in the Excelsior District Finals, earned the Finalist Team Alliance Trophy, and was a finalist for the Promote Video Award.
(You can read more about the AC Aces in the blog post AC Aces Make Finals at Excelsior Championships by team member Matt Duver ’20.)
Posted in: AC in the News, Centers for Impact, Eleventh Grade, Invent, Ninth Grade, Tenth Grade, The Birches, Twelfth Grade, Upper School, US Birches